Page 165 of Dagger in the Sea

Chicago, Hades, sounded about right. I would deliver her out from under him if it was the last thing I did.

“I’ll talk to my father about sending you home on the company plane,” she said. “It shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll take care of it for you.”

I cupped her face. “You’re good at that, you know.”

“I know,” she said, her lips brushing my fingers. “I love it when you let me do things for you.”

“Letyou?”

“You’re overly self sufficient, but sometimes,sometimes, you let go and enjoy what I give you.”

I kissed her fingertips, squeezing her hand between mine, and her breath caught. “Lovely—Athens to Denver.”

An eyebrow lifted. “Denver?”

“Yes.” I released her hand. “I need to meet someone there first, then I’ll get to Chicago another way. A quiet way.”

“Okay.” She straightened her shoulders and got on her phone.

My head fell back on the pillow as I watched her talk to her father. How the hell were we going to say goodbye? How? I couldn’t imagine not being at her side throughout the day, her hand always within reach, her lips mine to claim, her body mine to lose myself in, to worship. Her laugh tickling my ear, tickling my soul, enticing it to play.

But I was off on a fucking crusade, and her safety was definitely something I couldn’t guarantee in Chicago right now, let alone for myself. She belonged here, with her family. That was safe. That was the best for her.

She clicked off her phone, turning it over in her hands. “You’re all set for tonight. Can I come with you? Let me help you, be there for you. I could—”

“No, no, baby, you can’t.”

“Turo—” Her gorgeous eyes pleaded with me.

Jesus, this was a no win. Right now I couldn’t harbor hopes or tender thoughts. Everything in me had to be focused on one thing only.

“Forget me, Adri, ” I breathed.

Her face paled, an eye ticked. She wasn’t sure she’d heard me correctly. Neither was I.

“You should forget me,” I said slowly, pushing the words out of my mouth, forcing them out.

Since I’d arrived in Greece I’d been a marked man. But now, the cards had been finally laid down on the Blackjack table, the dice had been rolled, the roulette wheel had at long last stopped spinning.

She fingered the eye bracelet on my wrist, her voice a raw whisper, “I will never forget you, and I don’t mean because you’ve taken bullets for me, protected me, saved my brother, been a true friend, a lover. Our time together—here, on the island, all of it, all of it—is very special to me.”

So fucking special. Significant.

Her eyes held mine and her truth twisted and screwed tight in my chest.

“Your family needs you now, Adri,” I managed.

“Yes, they do, and I need them. But you need me too, I know you do. You don’t have to push me away.”

I clutched the long, gauzy scarf she wore around her neck and pulled her close. “I have to. Give this to me, Lovely. I need it. I need to know that you’re safe.”

“I need to know that you’ll come back to me,” she whispered.

Our lips were breaths apart, the magnetic pull between us unmistakeable, unbearable.

I let go of her scarf. “Don’t. I can’t guarantee that. I can’t.”I can’t guarantee shit.

She sat up straight, her gaze averted for a second then came back to me—cool, even, in control. She’d changed gears. “We’re taking my brother to London in a few days to see a therapist who was recommended. Marko is emotionally numb right now, and we’re all waiting for the explosion any day. Or implosion. I’m not sure which would be worse, him finally letting it out or never doing so.”

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